City of Vacaville, The Father's House unite against graffiti

Victor August, graffiti abatement volunteer with The Father?s House in Vacaville, speaks with reporters at the site of recent graffiti vandalism on Aegean Way. The Father?s has stepped up to help the city remove tagging.

Armed with buckets of paint and a sandblaster in extreme cases, a group of local church volunteers are taking to the streets of Vacaville in an effort to curb graffiti that has been plaguing the city.

Following the loss of redevelopment funds previously used to combat the problem, The Father's House is teaming up with the city of Vacaville to stop graffiti through its "adopt a block" program.

The plan was first unveiled at a City Council meeting last month and received a number of accolades from city officials.

Designed to pick up where redevelopment left off, when graffiti is spotted on private property, the owner is approached and asked to sign a "hold harmless" agreement that gives the church's volunteers free reign to deal with it. In situations where the tagging occurs on private property, code compliance officers will contact a public agency to clear the graffiti away.

During the meeting, Vice Mayor Dilenna Harris praised The Father's House for its work within the community, including the Storehouse food locker and other community service programs, noting that it makes the city proud.

Circulating between 10 Vacaville neighborhoods that include Trower Park, Bennett Hill and the Leisure Town area, a team of up to 60 volunteers make weekly visits throughout the city, where they have added graffiti abatement to their already established efforts of picking up trash, bringing food and conducting welfare checks, said Raymond Beaty, intern director and city impact pastor for The Father's House.

"Since we live here, we just want to step up and fill gaps that have been left because of the loss of funding," Beaty said.

After receiving work orders from code compliance officers, who document the vandalism, the volunteers assemble at the church at 10 a.m. every Saturday before setting about their task.

Since completing their first job in the first week in January, Beaty said the team has worked at more than 15 local sites.

Beaty credited the city's work to combat the issue but stated that without the funding, it was impossible for the city to stay on top of the problem.

Because of the volume of graffiti they are encountering, Beaty said one- or two-person teams have been going out throughout the week to paint over or sandblast areas that have been tagged.

"There's just too much to do on a Saturday," he explained.

Victor August was one of the volunteers out making the rounds Thursday.

Sporting a neon yellow construction vest with the words "we (heart) our city" on the back, August briefly inspected a concrete garbage enclosure on Aegean Way that vandals had plastered with swirls of red and black spray paint.

After reaching the property owners, it was decided to go the sandblasting route -- which meant temporarily putting the project on the back burner until the sandblaster was available and heading off to the next stop on Alamo Drive.

"We just decided to step up and help out the city of Vacaville and volunteer some of our time," he explained of his reasons for joining the team. "We want to keep (Vacaville) looking nice."

For more information on The Father's House Community Outreach or to volunteer, visit WeLoveOurCity.org. To report graffiti, call code enforcement at 449-5693.